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Loyalty

We need more loyalty in our world. There’s not much of it around these days. I think it’s time to craft a Sunday message on this topic. I just had to hear how a dear friend of mine was recently treated by someone and it really breaks my heart and quite frankly ticks me off. That’s loyalty. We should feel one another’s pain.

We should stick together no matter what. We shouldn’t quit on relationships even when friends don’t meet our expectations. And we should never allow gossip about someone we call a friend. That’s loyalty. We need a resurgence of loyalty in our culture and we need it now!

“I don’t like something you said in a sermon…I’m outa here”

“I don’t think you serve me the way you should…time for a new church”

“I don’t think you should have said that…I’m looking for a new friend”

“You’ve changed, so I don’t like you anymore…we’re no longer friends”

“I don’t like your honesty with me…skip you buddy”

“I don’t like what you said about my dear friend…but I ain’t saying anything about it”

“I’ve never stood up for you when you’ve been criticized, but because you didn’t do that for me, I’m gone”

“Yeah, you’ve been great to me for a long time, but you ticked me off…so C-YA!”

I dare to say that in the past decade, I have seen very little true loyalty. It seems to have gone nearly completely from out culture. It doesn’t take much for a person to gossip, quit a friendship, or even divorce these days. Why? I think it’s because Western culture is a very selfish and narcissistic culture that feeds our wants all too easily. Yet Christ modeled true selfLESSness. He was loyal to His children regardless of their issues. In fact, the more issues they had, the more He seemed to care for them.

When He was confronted by the situation of the woman at the well, He stuck up for His daughter and refused to stand by while others condemned her even though she DID SIN. That’s loyalty. That’s true Christian love. Will you still stand up for me if I sin and fall? What about if you disagree with me about something? Or is your loyalty for me conditional on my ability to remain sinless and meet all your expectations? I really hope not because I’m far from perfect and I can’t live up to that. No one can. Perhaps that’s why there is no loyalty these days. How about we change that? It starts with repentance and learning to stand firm with and for those you claim to care about. Only then will loyalty be restored to our culture. Let it begin with us.